Draconic Ascension: Book of Reality and Spirits

"Ok that is a lot to digest but for now, do you know Jack's ranking?" I asked

Araki turned to me and shook his head. "No sorry we may be good friends but I am not an adventurer like him as I made a promise to my father to not become one until I turned 16."

"Though now that I think about it, I don't think his ranking ever really came up in conversation until now."

I stared at Araki, confused and dumbfounded by his lack of knowledge of his own friend. He should have known that about his friend even if he wasn't an adventurer.

Araki didn't say anything else and turned to watch Jack fight and I did the same.

As Jack stood there, I could see him holding his spear. It had an odd design. The spearhead was a purplish black with gold flecks and silver lines running through it.

It looked kind of like the night sky with a bolt of lightning. It was an odd sight but interesting as well.

He stood with a strange calmness I haven't seen. So far he always seemed happy and calm aside from a few times, but now he showed no emotion and remained calm.

As the gate opened a presence was released that I could recognize anywhere and filled me with fear.

"No i-it can't be! Why is he here?!" I said quietly.

I watched as a large wolf standing at 7 feet tall walked out. Its pitch-black fur and bright red eyes put fear into many people but all I felt was slight relief.

I exhaled in relief "It's just a Direwolf. it's not hi- WAIT A DIREWOLF!" I said in a panic

Dire wolves are monsters everyone knows of in my village. They are wild wolves mutated by magic and become ferocious monsters unless certain measures are taken.

They don't have magic but are incredibly fast and strong and their hide is so tough most weapons can't pierce it. Not to mention their jaws can crush steel with ease.

Other than possibly the teachers there was no way anyone here could beat it without dying themselves.

"Get him out of there there is no way he can fight a Direwolf!" I shouted in a panic but I was too late. The Direwolf charged at Jack and I looked away not wanting to see Jack hurt.

*ARWOO!*

*Whoosh*

*Fwump*

*Thud*

*Shing*

hearing a strange noise I looked back and saw something I couldn't believe.

The Direwolf was lying on the ground and had a cut on its leg and Jack was standing behind it with blood on his spear. 

"what what just happened?" I said confused

I watch the dire wolf get back up and lunge at Jack. Jackk moved out of its way so fast I almost couldn't see it and stabbed the wolf with his spear.

I was dumbfounded again as I watched him do that. Direwolf hides it extremely tough to the point that unless weapons are enchanted you can't pierce it.

I continued to watch Jack do the same thing over and over.

Dodging at the last moment with minimal movement and counter-attacking at every chance he got.

What surprised me even more was that he didn't just use spear-fighting techniques.

I had been watching other applicants and several used different techniques with different weapons but they all used the same one for their weapons.

Spear attacks typically involve stabbing motions, whereas a glaive, which is a polearm with a single-edged sword at the end, is designed for slashing motions.

A quarterstaff, on the other hand, is a versatile weapon that can be swung around to strike opponents in various ways dealing blunt damage.

But Jack wasn't sticking to one style he was using all of them and others I hadn't seen before.

I heard someone ask if he copied them but another person said that his skill level was clearly higher than theirs so there is no way he copied their movements.

It was amazing. I had never seen someone so skilled at fighting other than my grandfather.

After some time the Direwolf was covered in wounds while Jack stood calmly with no visible injuries at all.

The Direwolf growled and I noticed a red aura envelope it.

I remembered something my grandfather told me a long time ago

"When a wolf of any species becomes angry enough it can enter a blood rage. When they do they see everything around them as an enemy, even their own children and loved ones."

"they become much stronger but lose the ability to think properly and attack wildly and when they leave that state they are never the same as that anger stays until the day they die."

"you can tell when one gets like that as all wolves can sense it on our own."

"If you ever encounter one, don't run or try to calm it down. Do everything you can to avoid its attention and slowly back away."

"but also remember it doesn't always come with anger sadness and other negative emotions if strong enough can cause a blood rage. Always be careful and make sure the others never enter one... please"

remembering what he said made me panic and I tried to move to warn Jakc but I couldn't.

I was frozen in fear and I wasn't the only one. Several other people couldn't move either probably as the pressure released by the Dire wolf increased.

I looked to Jack but amazingly he didn't seem bothered.

He took a stance with his spear pointed at the Direwolf and did something everyone in the audience couldn't believe.

He ran towards the Direwolf!

I watched as the Direwolf in its rage ran towards Jack and tried to bite him.

He ducked and slid along the ground while also slicing the Direwolfs chest and stomach from below in a single slice.

The Direwolf was leading badly now but didn't stop. It swung its paws at Jack and he somehow smacked them away with the blunt end of his spear showing that it had to be enchanted so it wouldn't break.

When the direwolfs paws were away I noticed stab wounds on them that weren't there before.

I looked over and saw Jack holding a dagger with the same design as the spearhead.

'Did he stab its paws when he blocked the attacks?!' I thought in amazement

the Direwolf tried over and over increasing its attack frequency yet somehow not landing a single hit.

The Direwolf then jumped into the air and tried to fall on top of Jack but he managed to jump and roll away in time.

I sawJackk move farther away and I noticed him say something but I couldn't tell what.

He then pulled a wand from his sleeve and pointed it at the Direwolf.

'wait is he a mage too?' I thought and looked closely at the wand. Iss had a yellow crystal on the handle and yellow lines running all over it. 

Then all of a sudden in a flash of blue lightning it changed and became blue with yellow lines instead.

'what was that?' I thought

the dire wolf turned towards Jack and bent down to make another charge but Jack cast his spell before it could.

[Tri-fold Lightning Bolt]

he cast a spell and 3 large bolts of lightning shot out from his wand and each struck the Direwolf. The Direwolf staggered and paused for a moment, then it fell over, dead.

the entire arena was silent but cheers rang out from a few people

Araki, Terra, several of the other applicants, and a few people around the arena.

After them, several more people joined in as this was the best fight so far.

Looking around I was a bit overwhelmed but decided to join in and cheered for Jack as well.

Jack waved around but mostly waited for it to end, though he did ask a teacher who was sitting near the edge of the field if he could keep the pelt.

I did find that odd but realized as an adventurer he could use it for himself or even sell it.

I couldn't hear the response and Jack didn't seem to react to it either.

when the cheering died down and Jack was waiting the announcer spoke

"Winner Jackson Drav-" the announcer began to say but stopped mid-sentence.

A strange aura was terminating from the Direwolf's corpse.

Everyone became on guard. It was confirmed the Direwolf was dead so whatever this was wasn't normal.

I noticed as Jack moved even farther away and got into a battle-ready position.

Several people in the audience and even the teachers around did the same.

I turned around and saw Araki, Zek, Orin and Aaron all ready for battle and defending the other applicants who probably could not do much.

I backed away but kept my eye on the Direwolf.

People had started to evacuate the arena already but those who could fight stayed.

I thought about leaving but fear and a sense of unease kept me from leaving.

After a minute or 2, the corpse twitched and most of us watched in horror as it got back up and its wound sealed on its own. Its fur changed to a dark red, the white of its eyes turned black, its chest started to glow orange as if a fire was inside of it and a red crystal sprouted from its chest.

"A hellhound!" someone shouted and panic engulfed everyone present.

People learn of hell hounds when they are young. Hellhounds are demons that roam in packs and just one of them requires an entire army to deploy.

It let out a loud howl and after a few seconds, 10 more hellhounds broke through the gate and entered the arena.

These were smaller though and stood at about the same height as normal wolves

."It-it can't be!" Zek said in disbelief.

"What is it?" Orin asked

"Some of those are the wolves I fought in my match!" zek shouted.

All our faces are pale as we realize the situation.